Teaching is taking hold of what a student knows and attaching something new to it.
Each time Paul entered a city, he went to the synagogue. “As usual, Paul went to the synagogue… On arrival, they went to the synagogue… So he reasoned in the synagogue” Acts 17:2,10,17. Why? Because God had prepared the Jewish people. They understood law, sin, and blood sacrifice. They were ripe for harvest. In every synagogue God brought many converts into the young church.
But when Paul spoke at the marketplace in Athens, philosophers brought him to Mars Hill also known as the Areopagus to speak about “this new teaching.” How would Paul reach non-Jews? He began by speaking of the city of Athens and things they knew well:
“Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by human hands…. For in Him we live and move and have our being, and even your own poets have said ‘we are His offspring’” vv.22-28.
Paul uses things from Athens—a shrine, a bit of local poetry—to connect with his audience. Billy Graham did the same: every time he preached, he quoted articles from the newspaper that was published in that city on that day. Similarly, Jesus talked to farmers about farming: about seeds, water, and harvest, about wheat, figs, and grapes, about cattle, sheep, and goats. That’s teaching: taking hold of what a student knows and attaching something new to it.
Good teachers look for COMMON GROUND.
What do your peers know? How can you take hold of what your friends know and attach to it new information about the gospel? Ask God for insight.
Dear God, show us how to share your truth. Show us how to connect to the Gospel those we can influence.
ΑΩ
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